❓ Mr. Love questions the Premier about the lack of consultation regarding the Armadale rail line closure. The Premier defends the decision, highlighting the project's benefits, collaboration with the Commonwealth, and safety concerns.
AnsweredQoN 72Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
METRONET — ARMADALE RAIL LINE
72. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Premier:
I refer to the Premier and Minister
for Transport's announcement that the Armadale line will be closed for
at least 18 months due to Metronet works.
(1) With local
commuters, businesses and even councils being blindsided by this announcement,
can the Premier outline who was consulted ahead of the announcement?
(2) Did the
Premier consult with the members for Victoria Park, Cannington, Forrestfield,
Thornlie, Southern River, Armadale, Darling Range, Murray–Wellington,
Collie–Preston and Bunbury, whose constituents will be impacted by the
closure of the line?
72. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Premier:
I refer to the Premier and Minister
for Transport's announcement that the Armadale line will be closed for
at least 18 months due to Metronet works.
(1) With local
commuters, businesses and even councils being blindsided by this announcement,
can the Premier outline who was consulted ahead of the announcement?
(2) Did the
Premier consult with the members for Victoria Park, Cannington, Forrestfield,
Thornlie, Southern River, Armadale, Darling Range, Murray–Wellington,
Collie–Preston and Bunbury, whose constituents will be impacted by the
closure of the line?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) When
we made the announcement, we made it with Mr Andrew Hastie, MHR, who is a federal
Liberal minister from Western Australia, who came along with us to the press
conference and supported the announcement and the project and was fulsome in
his support, just so the member knows. It is a jointly funded project between
the state and commonwealth governments. Obviously, the state is the one that
delivers it, but we have worked cooperatively with the commonwealth to get to
this point.
The Armadale rail line has been in
place for 131 years. Over that time, it has had some upgrades—not many—for instance, the Armadale train
station, but not much else along the route. Some of the train stations along the route were added in the 1950s and 1960s—the Minister for
Transport's father worked on one or two of the train stations in
construction back in the 50s or 60s—and over that period of time, it
has not had a lot of investment into it. Via this program, we are going to not
only extend it to Byford, the rapidly growing suburban area there, but also
remove 12 level crossings, put in place six new stations and replace some of
the existing stations, and link up the Thornlie–Cockburn rail line onto
the Armadale train line. This is an amazing transformational project that will
benefit 500 000, 600 000 or 700 000 people living in that corridor. That is
what it is going to do. It is a massive construction program employing
thousands of Western Australians. It will
mean the Armadale train line will remain fit for purpose for a hundred years to come—perhaps more. It is a great project that will remove all those
blockages in the system and extend it. It will also mean that throughout areas
like Cannington and Victoria Park, the rail will be elevated and there will be development opportunities around the
stations and the rail lines that are currently constrained . It is a great, wonderful project. What is more, we
got the commonwealth to pay for half of it, I think. Again , that is
fantastic. It is the sort of thing the last Liberal–National government
was incapable of doing, but we work cooperatively with the federal government
to get these outcomes. What does the National Party do, that actually opposes Metronet? When I walked through the car park
there, I saw that they have stickers on their cars opposing it. Now they
come in here and argue that we are not doing it right. They oppose it but we
are not doing it right; that appears to be the argument.
The
reason we have to close the rail line for up to 18 months is because it is a massive
construction project . It has multiple
parts to it and it would be dangerous for the thousands of people working on it
were we not to do that. That is the reality of what we are dealing with.
But we have given a year's notice before such time as we close the rail line so that people can be accustomed to it
and we can work out what the alternative public transport arrangements
will be over that period of time, in consultation with the community. These are
largely engineering decisions. I am not an engineer, but I take the advice of
the engineers as to what is the safest way
of achieving the outcome and what is the best way of doing it efficiently and
quickly, and that is the advice we receive from them. We are happy to
work with the federal government. Obviously, it
understands that what we did is the right thing. Once again, it has obviously
cut the Deputy Leader of the Opposition out of the loop.
we made the announcement, we made it with Mr Andrew Hastie, MHR, who is a federal
Liberal minister from Western Australia, who came along with us to the press
conference and supported the announcement and the project and was fulsome in
his support, just so the member knows. It is a jointly funded project between
the state and commonwealth governments. Obviously, the state is the one that
delivers it, but we have worked cooperatively with the commonwealth to get to
this point.
The Armadale rail line has been in
place for 131 years. Over that time, it has had some upgrades—not many—for instance, the Armadale train
station, but not much else along the route. Some of the train stations along the route were added in the 1950s and 1960s—the Minister for
Transport's father worked on one or two of the train stations in
construction back in the 50s or 60s—and over that period of time, it
has not had a lot of investment into it. Via this program, we are going to not
only extend it to Byford, the rapidly growing suburban area there, but also
remove 12 level crossings, put in place six new stations and replace some of
the existing stations, and link up the Thornlie–Cockburn rail line onto
the Armadale train line. This is an amazing transformational project that will
benefit 500 000, 600 000 or 700 000 people living in that corridor. That is
what it is going to do. It is a massive construction program employing
thousands of Western Australians. It will
mean the Armadale train line will remain fit for purpose for a hundred years to come—perhaps more. It is a great project that will remove all those
blockages in the system and extend it. It will also mean that throughout areas
like Cannington and Victoria Park, the rail will be elevated and there will be development opportunities around the
stations and the rail lines that are currently constrained . It is a great, wonderful project. What is more, we
got the commonwealth to pay for half of it, I think. Again , that is
fantastic. It is the sort of thing the last Liberal–National government
was incapable of doing, but we work cooperatively with the federal government
to get these outcomes. What does the National Party do, that actually opposes Metronet? When I walked through the car park
there, I saw that they have stickers on their cars opposing it. Now they
come in here and argue that we are not doing it right. They oppose it but we
are not doing it right; that appears to be the argument.
The
reason we have to close the rail line for up to 18 months is because it is a massive
construction project . It has multiple
parts to it and it would be dangerous for the thousands of people working on it
were we not to do that. That is the reality of what we are dealing with.
But we have given a year's notice before such time as we close the rail line so that people can be accustomed to it
and we can work out what the alternative public transport arrangements
will be over that period of time, in consultation with the community. These are
largely engineering decisions. I am not an engineer, but I take the advice of
the engineers as to what is the safest way
of achieving the outcome and what is the best way of doing it efficiently and
quickly, and that is the advice we receive from them. We are happy to
work with the federal government. Obviously, it
understands that what we did is the right thing. Once again, it has obviously
cut the Deputy Leader of the Opposition out of the loop.
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